Democrat Joe Sestak to kick off 2016 campaign for U.S. Senate this week

By Kristina Scala

kscala@delcotimes.com @Scala_Kris on Twitter

Democrat Joe Sestak is looking for a rematch against Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey in 2016.

Sestak, the former Navy admiral and onetime Congressman from Edgmont, plans to kick off his campaign Wednesday on the front steps of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

"I won't go into details right now, but let me just say this: I'm going to make it interesting," he wrote in an email announcement Monday.

Regardless of Sestak's marginal loss to Toomey five years ago, and his lengthy campaign, the odds of the Democrat winning the race are murky. Another Sestak campaign isn't attracting support from state party leaders, potentially pointing to another failed attempt for the Senate for the Democratic challenger.

"He has never stopped running since he lost to Toomey six years ago," said Terry Madonna, political pollster from Franklin and Marshall College. "The difference now is he's not exactly a lot of party leaders' first choice, to put it mildly."

There was a similar lack of party support when Sestak's Democratic primary opponent, Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter, won the Democratic endorsement to run against Toomey in 2010. Specter lost to Sestak in the primary election with 46 percent of the vote.

If the Democrats don't see Sestak as a fit opponent to beat Toomey, why not pull together better-suited candidates?

Madonna said it has to do with the party finding a candidate who's capable of raising tens of millions of dollars to run a Senate campaign. "It's not something you have to choose now, but you can't wait indefinitely because of funding."

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Democrat Joe Sestak to kick off 2016 campaign for U.S. Senate this week

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